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Frabjous Session One
Kel: Several days have passed since most of their escapes, enough time for most of them to fall into something approaching a daily routine. As usual, a rather sumptuous breakfast has been laid out for them in the shared hallway between their rooms. Not so usual is the fact that, in the middle of all of the food and drink, somebody's laid a thick book. They squashed a few rolls to do so, actually. A thin golden chain is attached to the spine, attached to a pen that seems to be made of polished bone, with blood-red ink dripping from the tip. ... onto the rolls. Nobody is probably going to want to eat those. Fyre: Blink. Blink blink. "...Okay. Um, that looks..." Fyre picks up a fork to poke at the book lightly. Kel: The book, being a book, does not respond. Jessie: 'Uhm.. I don't think that's.. uh.. food.' Doc Swiftly: Doc is..Well, Doc isn't there. He's in his room. Reading. Surprising, to be sure. He probably hasn't even noticed that it's morning, much less breakfast time. Valt: One of Valt's hands slides up from underneath the table, then the rest of her suddenly appears. The other hand spiders over to open the book's cover while the first picks up one of the bloodied rolls. Fyre: "Um, careful. I don't like things that randomly appear out of nowhere and drip blood on things." Jessie: Jessie frowns 'Did.. someone here ask for a new book or something, maybe? ...and asked for a really creepy book?' Kel: The blood-stuff actually smells salty, not really like blood at all. The first page of the book, though, has a nice heading of 'DRAMATIS PERSONAE.' Below that are rough sketches of the five of them in red ink, along with their names. And Marlin, the world's best x-treme stamp collector. Doc Swiftly: As if on cue, the lights flicker madly as Doc's room door slams open and a book comes sailing out. It is a book titled "Scientific Luminaries of the Past 100 years . Valt: "...not me." Valt foots a book out from underneath the table - apparently she was reading under there - and scoops it into a chair while she peers curiously at the not-blood on the roll. Fyre: ...Fyre leans over and peers in. "That... looks like a play- AGH" She ducks. Doc Swiftly: It has also apparently displeased the Thunder-Doc. Jessie: 'Wh- ACK!' Jessie narrowly misses getting a book to the face Valt: Scientific Luminaries of the Past 100 Years goes in the chair as well, once Valt plucks it neatly out of the air just after it sails by Jessie's face. Fyre: "Someone woke up on the wrong side of his pile of books." Fyre scrunches her nose and goes back to peering at the book. Her hair helpfully poses out of the way of her eyes. Jessie: 'Th-throwing books at people isn't.. nice.' Jessie keeps slightly below the table in case further books are incoming Valt: Valt's eyes wander eventually over to Fyre. "Who?" Doc Swiftly: Doc follows the book out, looking..Perturbed. And then possibly contrite. "Oh. I apologize. I didn't hit anyone, did I?" Fyre: "Him. You almost got Jessie in the face, but... uh, lookit this." She points at the Book of Possible Doom. Doc Swiftly: "That looks...Ominous." Jessie: 'I'm fine.. uhm.. did you, maybe, ask for a wierd book with your breakfast?' Valt: Valt passes the roll into her mouth when nobody's looking. Fyre: Fyre is too busy peering at the book. She reeaches to turn the page, cautiously. Kel: ... the ink-stuff makes it taste like a big bite of sea water. Yummy. Jessie: 'Uhm. So.. nobody asked for a book? And.. er.. is it safe to read, you think?' Valt: She gags and sticks her tongue out, a few crumbs falling onto the floor. "Bleah." Doc Swiftly: "I certainly didn't ask for this boo-...Are those images of us?" Doc Swiftly: Longer pause. "And is it bleeding?" Valt: "...tastes more like... not blood." Kel: The next page is covered in red, cursive handwriting. It... describes the days of all five of them, starting a few hours ago, and going into rather poetic terms. The sound of a pen scratching on paper is just barely audible from deeper in the book. Jessie: 'I hope that is just.. ink.' Jessie looks at Valt '..that's probably not good to eat, either way.' Fyre: ...Fyre turns more pages to find the scratching. Valt: Valt nods, wrinkling her nose. "...icky." Kel: A few more page turns get to the first unfinished page, detailing the last few moments. As they watch, a new line scratches itself out. Doc Swiftly: Doc stares at it. Fyre: "...kay, this is magic and creepy..." Pause. "...and kinda cool." Doc Swiftly: He picks up a roll and tosses it up and down, then looks at the page. Kel: The book records the words even as Fyre speaks them. Jessie: Jessie blinks large, fish like eyes. '...just, erm, don't try to skip to the end. ...please?' Valt: Valt reaches out and puts her index finger on the page just in front of the quill. Kel: The writing doesn't seem to particularly care, taunting Valt by detailing her attempts to stop it as it passes the finger. Valt: Valt pouts! Fyre: ...Fyre tries not to be amused at the taunting book. Valt: "...what happens if we rip out pages?" Jessie: Jessie fidgets 'I don't know...' Doc Swiftly: "That...That may not be wise." Fyre: "...I'm... not interested in damaging a magic book that seems to connect itself to what we are doing. I mean, what if it explodes or something?" Fyre: Okay, maybe exploding wasn't the best first thought, but... Valt: Valt looks excited! "Do you think it will?" Doc Swiftly: Doc pulls a pen out of his pocket and approaches the book. "I'd like to test something..." Fyre: "...I think maybe it would sooner... like... the page would rip and then our throats would rip and our heads fall off." She looks over at Doc. "It has a pen." Doc Swiftly: "Do you TRUST its pen?" Jessie: Jessie just looks worried Fyre: "...no, but... well, give it a shot, I guess." Valt: Valt still stares intently at the book, but reaches over to Jessie and pats her awkwardly on the shoulder a couple of times. "There. There." Doc Swiftly: Doc writes "And then a butterfly landed on Fyre's head" in the book with his own pen. Jessie: 'Erm.. thanks?' Kel: The ink stays on the page for a few moments, then it fades away to nothingness as the cursive text passes over it. Doc Swiftly: Doc watches Fyre. Waits. Doc Swiftly: "Hm." Fyre: "...Now try it with that pen." Hey, Fyre isn't gonna be writing in the weird book... Valt: Valt reaches out and grabs the pen attached to the book, scribbling "And then a butterfly landed on the sparky man's head." Doc Swiftly: Doc..Is beaten to it by Valt. Kel: The writing stays on the page for a few seconds before warping into the same cursive that fills the rest of the book. Nothing happens for a few moments, then a nice little Monarch butterfly flies in and lands on Doc's hair. Detective Book: Detective Book rubs her finger over the pages trying to cause a paper cut Doc Swiftly: "This is thoroughly abusable." Fyre: ...Fyre looks slightly unnerved. "And now we stop writing things in the Can Make Things Happen book because we don't know what the COST could be." Valt: Valt stares at the book for a second. "Burn it." Jessie: '...I.. oh dear.' Kel: She succeeds at giving herself a papercut! Valt: "...we can write 'and then the book had no power.'" Fyre: "That might make it explode us. Which would suck." Jessie: 'I think maybe we should see if someone knows where this book came from.. er, maybe.' Doc Swiftly: "Or 'And then the book revealed who put it here and why.'" Valt: "You never know until you try." Doc Swiftly: "I wonder..What would happen if you wrote something in it, and then caused that to NOT happen?" Fyre: "We don't know what catches could be in this thing. Trying could make things go really bad. We should ask someone if they saw anyone put this here. Or..." She pauses. Detective Book: "Or I can just ask and we can not risk whatever price the book charges" Jessie: 'I mean, it didn't just appear on the breakfast table randomly. ....uh, maybe. ...actually that could have happened.' Jessie sighs. '...ask?' Fyre: "...Does this seem familiar to anybody? I mean... has anyone seen anything like this or read about anything like this?" Doc Swiftly: Doc pops a strip of bacon into his mouth as he watches. Detective Book: to the book "Where did you come from, why are you here?" Kel: The book speaks a bit confusedly to Book. "I came from the Hedge... and to make stories." Detective Book: "Who made you?" Jessie: Jessie looks from Book to.. Book. '..this is new. Uhm. I mean, listening to a book talk.. that's not an audio book, or.. nevermind.' Kel: "... I don't know." Doc Swiftly: "Is it talking back?" Valt: Valt sits down in her chair on top of her little stack of books and quietly eats a folded pancake as she watches. Detective Book: "its easy to talk to paper if you have the right connections.."she says then back to the book, "Who dropped you here?" Doc Swiftly: Doc slides into the chair next to Fyre, reaching for a waffle. Fyre: Fyre reaches for an apple. Jessie: Jessie sips orange juice. Kel: "A man... with a big gun?" It pauses for a moment before thoughtfully adding, "And a moving shadow." Doc Swiftly: Om nom waffle with lots of syrup. Doc Swiftly: And bacon. And eggs. Doc is loading up on the calories. Detective Book: "Decribe the gun" Valt: Valt looks from Doc to Fyre and speaks bluntly, with her mouth still full. "Who are you?" Doc Swiftly: Doc raises an eyebrow. "Doc Swiftly. Who are you?" Kel: "... long. With a glass thing on top." The book doesn't seem to be much of a gun expert. Fyre: "Oh, sorry. I'm Fyre." Valt: "Valt." There's a short, awkward pause. "...nice to... see you?" Doc Swiftly: Baconbaconbacon. Fyre: ...Fyre gets some bacon, too. Because bacon is good. She grins before taking a bite. "Sorry about the late introduction. I've been doing stuff for the past few days and... uh, this is weird." Valt: "...everything is weird, now." She grabs another pancake. Detective Book: however Book does know a thing or two from her job and is rather used to peicing together bad details into information.. so could I get a roll? Fyre: "Well, yes. But I usually don't have bloody, chatty books on my foods." Doc Swiftly: "I seem to be able to control lightning and you have a tail, Fyre. And we're possibly the most normal-looking of this group. The magic book is the strange part of our lives?" Valt: "I did." No elaboration. Of course. Jessie: ' Its.. nice being back. I missed things like a normal breakfast.' Jessie gulps more orange juice. Jessie: *and winces a bit at the 'normal-looking' comment* Fyre: ".......well, yes?" Fyre looks confused for a moment. "I dunno. I don't notice the weird-looking so much anymore. It all kinds looks normal to me now." Doc Swiftly: Doc doesn't seem to have noticed. He instead reaches into a pocket and pulls out a book. Alternates reading with eating. Valt: Nearly at the same time, Valt reaches underneath herself, pulls out the book Doc threw, and starts to read it. Detective Book: Since its a hedge item and you really never know, Book's going to use Sense Tainted Vows on the book to see if its broken any vows Kel: The book hasn't broken any vows. Doc Swiftly: Doc is reading a history book. Specifically, the first part of the 20th century. Kel: Though it hasn't broken any vows, her focus on contracts and pledges while inspecting the book helps Book feel... something familiar-ish. Like an echo of a contract she had in Arcadia. Jessie: Jessie helps herself to a muffin. Detective Book: "Fucking wonderful.." Doc Swiftly: Doc chokes on an egg. Fyre: Fyre has moved on to eggs and bacon. The apple is ded. Doc Swiftly: Well, not CHOKES chokes. But he clearly wasn't expecting that kind of language. Valt: Valt WHACKS Doc on the back! Jessie: 'Erm.. that.. doesn't sound good.' Kel: The butterfly is disturbed by this and takes off. Fyre: Fyre laughs sharply, attempting to stop herself. Doc Swiftly: Cough cough. "Thank you." Valt: "You're welcome." Valt goes back to reading like nothing happened. Detective Book: "Someone go see if the Professor has an Iron vault or safe or something" Fyre: "Wait, what?" Doc Swiftly: Doc stands up after grabbing an English Muffin. "I'll go." Doc Swiftly: Pause. "Why am I doing this, exactly?" Jessie: 'Iron? Why? And.. uh.. did the book say who sent it?' Detective Book: "This is Keeper work" Doc Swiftly: Lights flicker. Jessie: Jessie pales.. ...moreso than usual. Valt: Valt makes a face that looks almost exactly like what would happen if a frog went "D:". Fyre: Fyre looks unsettled for a moment and then picks up moar bacon. Munch munch. Doc Swiftly: Doc heads away. Comes back. "Does anyone know where he might be this time of day?" Jessie: Jessie shrugs Detective Book: "I can go and you can stay with the Evil reality manipulating book if you want" Valt: "I don't know him." Valt: Valt huffs and scoops the book off the table, gathering it into her arms. "It's not -evil.-" Doc Swiftly: "Why don't we all go? After all, it seems to be about all of us..." Detective Book: "Its here by the actiosn of an Other. Its here to spread that Other's plan.. so evil" Jessie: 'That, uhm, makes sense. Both things.' Jessie looks at Book and Swiftly Valt: "You're evil." Huff. Fyre: Fyre grabs another apple. She eats a good bit for a relatively skinny girl... "Sure, what the heck." Doc Swiftly: Doc grabs another bunch of english muffins. Doc Swiftly: Around one: "Lead on, miss." Detective Book: "We don't know if moving it too much might be playing into its hands.." Jessie: Jessie seems to have forgotten about breakfast entirely '..but leaving it alone could be even worse..' Doc Swiftly: "We don't know leaving it here wouldn't be playing into its plans, either." Fyre: "Well, we'll move it to the one spot. In the safe thing." Fyre sounds slightly impatient. "Just guessing isn't going to help us much." Doc Swiftly: Munch munch. "Exactly." Detective Book: "that's why we need some people to stay and some to go, and in pairs" Fyre: Pause. "That's... overly complicated." Valt: Valt cracks the book open and looks thoughtfully into it, looking for the conversation between it and Book. Doc Swiftly: "Or we should all go. Together. WITH the book. Book." Kel: The conversation is actually recorded. Detective Book: "We could be exposing more people" Fyre: "We've all been exposed. How would more of us coming along do that?" Jessie: Jessie looks over Valt's shoulder. ...or actually around her. Valt: Valt reads out the book's end of the conversation! Doc Swiftly: "It sounds more confused than malicious." Detective Book: "People outside this group have not been exposed, taiking it to them may expose them" Doc Swiftly: "Book, MARLIN is in here. And he's not even with us currently." Fyre: ...Fyre pauses. "So you want two people to take the book elsewhere. Because moving it elsewhere might expose more people." Jessie: Jessie fidgets Fyre: Blank expression. Valt: "She wants to expose people?" Detective Book: "Maybe he's doing something that exposes himself to the book's power" Detective Book: "and I want more than one person to stay here and more than one person to go look" Valt: "You want, you want, you want. What about what I want?" Fyre: "Like what? Shouting from rooftops?" Fyre sounds... increasingly impatient. Jessie: 'I'm, uh, sure he didn't mean to do anything. If he did anything. And.. I don't know why we shouldn't all go.' Detective Book: "Clearly whatever he's doing would give away any knowledge of how things are effected by the book since its not recording what he is doing" Kel: It actually is. Valt: Valt takes the pen and writes in the book. "And then everyone knew what was going on." Kel: It's just not all too interesting, since he's asleep or something. Fyre: Fyre continues the blank stare at Book. "You're... not making much sense, you know." Kel: ... and Valt's words fade from the book. Aww. Valt: "...it didn't work!" Fyre: Fyre leans over. "Maybe it has limits." Jessie: '...darn. The butterfly thing worked though..' Valt: "..hmm." Valt writes again. "Do you have limits?" Kel: ...... another fade. Detective Book: mutters and goes into the library to look for some O Henry stories. Valt: More writing. "YOU SMELL." Fyre: Fyre... stares as Book apparently leaves? And shrugs. "Off we go, then?" Doc Swiftly: Doc sighs. "I still don't know where the Professor is." Jessie: 'Maybe you should, er, not write any more in there than you have to..? This is.. stuff from Them after all.' Doc Swiftly: "We'll try the Autumn library. Come along." Fyre: Hot following action! Valt: "...okaaay." Valt pouts, closes the book, and stands to follow everyone else. Doc Swiftly: Doc heads off, not apparently checking to see if anyone is following him. Detective Book: is looking for a damn copy of "The Monkey's paw" Jessie: Jessie shouts (well, for her- its more a slightly louder than normal voice) after Doc- 'Hey, wait for us!' Kel: ... the book suddenly stinks. Hardcore bad. Messing-up-your-concentration bad. Doc Swiftly: Doc stops. Turns around. Doc Swiftly: . . ."Valt, you carry the book." Valt: Valt looks like she's about to puke. Kel: Like a dead skunk covered in burnt fish. Jessie: '....ew.' Fyre: "...uh, what... egh." Valt: Valt hurriedly cracks the book open and writes again. "And then everyone stopped being able to smell the book." Kel: ... the book continues to stink. Doc Swiftly: . . . Doc Swiftly: Doc sighs. Detective Book: keeps looking for the damn book because Valt needs to Read Monkey's Paw Fyre: ...Fyre reaches for the book. "Can I see that?" Valt: Valt carries the book in one arm, and pinches her nose shut with the other hand. Valt: She hands it over all too eagerly. "Ged it away!" Doc Swiftly: "Valt. Please stop writing things in that book." Jessie: Jessie trails behind, trying to avoid the stinky Miasma of Cursed Book Valt: "...but I..." Doc Swiftly: "Please." Fyre: Fyre examines the book to see if anything has changed. If the pages have turned color, if the writing has changed, anything. Doc Swiftly: Doc starts walking again. Valt: Pout, crossed arms. Kel: Nothing seems out of the ordinary, except for Valt's 'YOU STINK' in the text, now in pretty cursive. Fyre: ...Fyre squints at the words. And takes the pen and writes "You stop stinking, please." Fyre: What the heck. Worth a shot. Fyre: ... Kel: ... the book stops stinking. Valt: Valt beams! "Good job." Fyre: "Thank you." As if the book can hear. She puts it under one arm and goes to catch up to Doc. Jessie: Jessie catches back up now that the book no longer smells like skunk roadkill '..what did you do?' Fyre: "...Well, Valt wrote 'You Stink.' So I wrote for it to stop stinking. And, er, added a please for good measure." Jessie: 'Oh.. good thinking.' Doc Swiftly: "Can you all please keep your pens in your pockets and away from the pages of that book now?" Fyre: "I used its pen. It's the only pen it likes." Deadpan. Valt: "If I had a pen attached to me it'd be the only one I liked." Whooooosh. Fyre: Muses. "Well, I'd rather not have a pen attached to me. That might not be comfortable... And it'd have to be attached to my hand or something to be useable." Kel: ... eventually, Book finds a dusty DVD of Bedazzled. It's kind of almost close? Doc Swiftly: Doc raises his voice. "Book, are you coming with us?" Detective Book: Spends a point of glamour to activate Contract of the four directions to find the book and a willpower.. Fyre: "Let's just go on, since she's not responding." Doc Swiftly: "Right." Doc continues on towards the throne room. Jessie: 'Lets just, er, meet in the Autumn library.. she sounds.. busy.' Fyre: More hot following action. Valt: Hot girl-on-girl following action. Fyre: More hot following action. Doodeedoo Doc Swiftly: Doc leads them to the Autumn throneroom and actually pulls his attention away from the book he was reading the entire time to see if the Professor is there. Jessie: Jessie looks around with interest at the Throneroom Valt: Valt does too, taking everything in. Kel: He is, indeed. He seems to have sat a mystical kingly ottoman in front of his throne and is slumped down in it reading a book, with a mug of tea next to him. He glances up as the group walks in. "Hey, they didn't tell me there was going to be a parade today..." Valt: "Who are you?" Fyre: Fyre grins a bit. "Well, we have a book of doom and we were kindof wondering if the Doom bit was warranted." She holds it up. Doc Swiftly: Doc goes back to his book. Pauses. "I find the chaper title 'World War One Moves Inexorably Forward' to be rather ominious...." Fyre: Aside. "Wait'll you get to Hitler." Doc Swiftly: "Because the phrase 'World War One' implies additional World Wars...." Kel: The Professor grudingly sits up and holds out a hand. "Can I have a look?" Jessie: 'Uhm.. well.. yeah...' Fyre: Fyre hands him the Book of Doom. Valt: "...two." Kel: He leafs through it. "... definitely a Token. Where'd you get it?" Fyre: "It was placed on our breakfast before we went to eat." Jessie: Jessie fidgets again, watching the Professor leaf (ha) through the Doombook Valt: "Who are you, book man?" Fyre: "That's the PRofessor, Valt." Valt: "Oh." Kel: "... eh?" He looks up at Valt's question. "I'm me, last time I checked. They call me the Professor, since I'm all, you know. Brainy and such. And I've actually seen these before." Fyre: "You have?" Fyre perks. Yay, infoz! Doc Swiftly: Doc pauses again. "Why would the assasination of a minor noble of Austria bring France and Great Britain into this?!" Jessie: 'With our names on it..? Or books like that for.. other people?' Jessie: Jessie glances at Doc 'Its, er, something with treaties.. I think.' Kel: "Well, yeah, for other people. Not that I know *that* much about them. It wasn't mine before. ... certainly wouldn't mind a chance to poke at it." Valt: "It doesn't work if you try to make it explain to you." Doc Swiftly: "We seem to have discovered that it will do what you write with the pen..Which can be problematic." Glare at Valt. Glaaaare. Valt: Valt stares blankly at Doc. Fyre: "To a limit. And it only likes that one pen." Pause. "Er, Valt ate a roll with some of that ink stuff on it. Might that... have bad effects?" Jessie: 'Uh.. did the other people with this kind of book find out why they.. uh, had this book given to them?' Kel: He blinks. "... I wouldn't know, but I'd see a doctor if she starts feeling weird. And I'm not sure about the others who had 'em. Most of them were new escapees and, well, new escapees don't always hang around that long, one way or another." Jessie: '....I don't think I like the sound of, er, that.' More fidgeting! Fyre: "I can imagine." ...She considers a second and looks at Valt. "Are you feeling weird?" Doc Swiftly: Doc pulls an english muffin out of a coat pocket and munches it. Valt: "I always feel weird." Fyre: "Not a different weird, though." Valt: "No." Fyre: "...Okay, good." Valt: Valt finally catches on to Jessie's nervousness and steps closer to her, trying to be comforting. Kel: The Professor fiddles with the pen as he leafs through the book, trying politely to not read too many details of there personal lives. "Anything in particular you wanted to know? I won't be *much* help, but..." Valt: "Why us?" Doc Swiftly: "Is there a price for using it?" Jessie: Jessie stops fidgeting, at least 'Um..good questions..' Fyre: "We just wanted to make sure that the random magic book with the bloody inky pen thing wasn't something like Keepers spying on our actions to take us back and all that jazz." Kel: "... probably. Like most Tokens, it's probably useful and dangerous at the same time. ... and you said you found it on your table?" Doc Swiftly: "On the rolls, to be precise." Kel: "... waste of a perfectly good roll." Jessie: 'It squished them, yeah.' Fyre: "Yes. And... er, Book talked to it and it said something about a guy putting it there. A guy with a gun and a moving shadow. If the book's version of the events are right..." Valt: "Now they taste like salt." Kel: "... well, a guy with a gun describes about half the people here. The shadow might narrow it down a bit more if it wasn't just them crossing in front of a window or something." Fyre: "It has the description in there somewhere around recent events. I think there was more to the gun description." She shrugs. Doc Swiftly: "Long, with a glass thing on top." Fyre: "I just... I mean, someone HERE took me into the hedge, and I'm not comforted by the thought of some random guy coming and putting a token on my breakfast, you know?" Kel: ... all of them roll better than Book and get the general idea of a sniper rifle, or at least a rifle with a scope on top. Fyre: "...The glass thing sounds like a scope. And if it's a big gun, maybe a rifle." Valt: "...scopes go on sniper rifles, right?" Doc Swiftly: Doc raises an eyebyow. He does do that a lot, doesn't he? "They put telescopes on rifles now?" Fyre: "Yeah. So you can snipe people really far away." Jessie: 'To, er, shoot better.. farther, yeah.' Doc Swiftly: "That seems cumbersome.." Fyre: "You usually want to kill someone REALLY far away with a scope. Usually. Or hunting rifles sometimes have them... for sitting still al ong time and waiting for something to wander past." Kel: "A guy with a big rifle with a scope. That narrows things down a little. Not that many people packing firepower like that..." Jessie: 'Waiting.. like, for ambushes.' Jessie winces 'That sounds.. even worse.' Doc Swiftly: "How far away can they possibly shoot someone with it?" Valt: "...miles." Fyre: "Geez, hundreds of yards. Depends on the gun." Kel: "... if it'll make you feel better, I'll have guards posted in your hall for the next few nights." Doc Swiftly: Doc pales. "MILES?!" Fyre: "8 inches at 800 yards for some sniper rifles. You can hit a person with that accuracy pretty easily." Doc Swiftly: Whaddya know, something got his attention. Valt: "Miiiiiles." Fyre: "Up to 2,300 yards for some of em." Jessie: 'If there's not, like, a building or tree or something in the way.' Doc Swiftly: "Uh. Guards would probably be prudent, yes." Valt: "Not inside." Jessie: 'Er.. if you are sure they, uh, are.. safe.' Kel: "If you want my advice, don't trust it... but they can't track people on Earth as far as I know. Take things slow with it. It's probably not a good idea to make it zap up a million jillion dollars for you. For one, it'd be *hell* on the economy... and okay, I'll station some guards." Fyre: "They can't?" Fyre relaxes a bit. "Well, that's good, at any rate." Valt: "...yes. Good. Can we write outselves out of existence?" Kel: "Not unless you break an oath on their name or something. It takes some serious mojo to work that sort of thing up." He holds out the book with a way-too-long arm. Jessie: 'I'd.. rather not mess with the book, anyway. It, er, could.. end up being used to do that.' *eyes Valt nervously* Doc Swiftly: Doc takes the book. Doc Swiftly: Before Valt can. Valt: "...you're mean, Swiftly." Jessie: 'He's just, ah, being careful.' Kel: "... no fighting, or I will turn this freehold around." Fyre: Fyre laughs! Valt: "Make him stop being mean!" Jessie: Jessie stifles an urge to yell 'SHE STARTED IT!' Doc Swiftly: "I am prudent, Valt. You make it smell like the backside of an emu." Valt: No answer. Valt's resigned herself to being the kicked puppy! Fyre: "How do you know what an emu's backside smells like?" Doc Swiftly: Doc looks aggrieved. "Because I never forget anything.." Fyre: "This means you have smelled an emu's backside at some point." Fyre looks amused! Jessie: Jessie stares at Doc Doc Swiftly: "My life is a mystery, madame. You cannot just open it to the middle like a book and learn everything at once." Kel: "... well, actually..." Fyre: Fyre is trying hard not to explode in giggles. Pretty obviously. Jessie: 'Well, er, not counting that book, I guess.' Doc Swiftly: Doc manages to misquote Mal Reynolds despite having never seen Firefly. He's just that awesome. Doc Swiftly: Doc tucks the book under his arm. "Now. Do you have some sort of iron safe we can store this in, Professor?" Fyre: "I think he gave it back to us to... you know, give it back to us." Aside to Doc. Kel: "... unfortunately, no. I've got a more-or-less secure room that we store things of interest to the court in, but it's accessible to most of the court." Jessie: 'And what if someone else gets to it..? It, er, could be ...really bad.' Doc Swiftly: Aside to Fyre. "I do not trust Valt to not cause a Canadian invasion of the United States somehow." Kel: "If I were you, I'd either keep it in my sight at all times or get a safe deposit box. ... really. Sometimes the mundane ways work best." Fyre: "...With their army of moose and beavers and Canadian geese." Valt: "...sleep with it under our pillows?" Doc Swiftly: "Canadian geese are rather vicious.." Fyre: "So are beavers." Jessie: 'Or, uh, just keep it hidden.' Jessie frowns 'I could think of some places..' Doc Swiftly: Long pause. Doc Swiftly: "Where did Book go?" Fyre: Fyre shows no apparent realization of the implications of what she said. "I think she's looking for a book." Doc Swiftly: "Well, yes. But still?" Fyre: "...she seemed absorbed in it." Detective Book: is extremely determined to make Valt read "monkey's paw" Doc Swiftly: Doc probably has a copy in his bedroom. Fyre: "ALright, well, thanks for your help." Fyre moves to leave. Because this might not be the place for this conversation... Detective Book: tromps off after the group after finding the damn book Doc Swiftly: Doc follows Fyre, reading the Book of Doom. Valt: Valt shuffles along in the rear. Jessie: Jessie is in the middle of the group, somewhere Doc Swiftly: Doc is, theoretically, not staring at Fyre's tail. Fyre: Tail sways. "They do sell little lockboxes... and I'm not sure any of us has enough of our old identity down enough to get a deposit box at a bank. Or we could just hide it, yeah." Doc Swiftly: "I could take care of it.." Jessie: 'I... uh. Or I could find a place it could be safe..' Fyre: "...It might be useful, you know. If one of us could research it and figure out what the Catch might be." Doc Swiftly: "How useful is it to know that Book is about to come around that corner?" Fyre: "Unless you want to avoid her... Not very. But I mean WRITING in it." Jessie: 'Uhm... very?' Jessie: 'So.. how are we going to, well, figure out who should hide the book?' Fyre: "I'd like to a least know stuff about it if we're going to be keeping it, even if we don't use it." Doc Swiftly: "Ask the book?" Valt: "Asking doesn't work." Fyre: "There were OTHER books like this. Reading about them might help, you know?" Fyre: "...that's kinda how research works, you know." Doc Swiftly: Imperious stare. "Don't tell me how to research something, Fyre." Valt: Valt makes a grumbly huffy noise and stalks off to the library to do her some research on doombooks. Jessie: 'The, er, Professor said that he didn't remember too much about them though... surely he would have known?' Doc Swiftly: Doc heads to his room to do some research, since that's where a lot of the books are. Fyre: Fyre sticks her tongue out! "You seemed to be forgetting it in all the Asking the Book stuff. And he may not have had any reason to know, Jess..." Jessie: Jessie wilts 'I just, er, was saying.. nevermind.' Detective Book: "Or we could just track down the people who dropped it off" Fyre: "Nah, I see what you mean." Pat pat the squid. "It's just worth a try- where did you come from?" Doc Swiftly: "Around the corner." Doc Swiftly: "Like I said." Kel: The Autumn library is big. Valt certainly could research it, but it will probably take a few days. Valt: Valt seems quite content to do this thing! Jessie: '...um.' Jessie looks at Book '...where have you been?' Detective Book: "trying to find a copy of a short story to explain why you don't mess with random magical items" Doc Swiftly: Doc gets to his room and looks at the piles for any book he may have randomly grabbed that might help. Kel: ... well then, Valt's researchin'. Rolling shall happen later. Fyre: "Well, we found out that it is not an awful book that shall doom us all and steal our souls and draw us into the abyss and that it is not contagious." Jessie: '...so they said, anyway.' Fyre: "And people are researching it." Detective Book: "It just might drag you back to being someone's play thing, soul abyss is a completely different danger" Jessie: 'I still think we should, er, first find somewhere safe to keep it. In case.. that happens.' Detective Book: "Well there's this cave in astoria, hidden behind an Organ" Fyre: "Well, you're the one who can chat with paper. And I'm sure your infinitely superior knowledge of what to do over all else could help you find out if that is going to happen." Fyre's tone is a bit bored. Doc Swiftly: Doc sighs. Walks back out of his room. He's going to have to deal with Valt. Doc Swiftly: Turns and heads past the group again, making a beeline for The Library. Doc Swiftly: Doc is still carrying The Book. Not The Detective Book, the Evil Book of Doom. Detective Book: "We could just track down the people who dropped it off, anyone wants to be all Westish Fyre: "With the only clue being 'a guy with a moving shadow who has a possible sniper rifle.'" Fyre: The Blank Look is back. Jessie: 'I, well.. it would be good to know. But.. I don't really want to get shot or anything.' Detective Book: "There are ways to track people based on extremely vague descriptions" Fyre: "Then that can be your job!" The tone is cheerful. Uh, possibly not sincerely, but... Doc Swiftly: Doc enters the library. Makes a beeline for whatever this place uses as its cataloguing system. Valt: Valt's already in there... climbing around the shelves like some kind of horrible water spider, looking for any books that might help. Doc Swiftly: Doc begins..Researchin'. Category:O Frabjous Day